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Invitation to a Gunfighter
Customer Reviews
Rating:  - A Misfire from the 60s
Although bold for its time, this film is nothing more than a rather unimaginative 1964 politically charged western. Apart from the novel idea of using the generic gung-ho western style of the day to advance a civil rights theme, this film is simply plagued with an unimaginative screenplay, poor direction, a script full of cliches, and terrible acting.
A small town of Yankees is angered by the return of former confederate Matt Weaver (George Segal) and decides to hire a gunman. Jules Gaspard d'Estaing (Brynner), a creole from Louisianna, is hired to do the job but he is soon found to be a man of conscience and principle. It so happens that the Yankees are the biggots and the southerner the victim with the colored man as the conscience of the film. A predictable love affair also springs up in a vain attempt to relieve the audience from its boredom. This is simply a terrible film with cliched dialogues and situations juxtaposed solely to make a blunt political statement as to diversity, equality, and justice. Yul Brynner is the only good actor in this film and even his performance suffers as a result of this simply atrocious production.
This film hasn't aged well and its subtle attempts at addressing the prevalent social issues of its day are as novel and moving as a Sidney Poitier film. This film is just too antiquated and poorly conceived to be worth owning or even watching.
Rating:  - Message received, invitation declined
A run-of-the-mill hired gun oater told from the hired gun's point of view. Yul Brynner stars in INVITATION TO A GUNFIGHTER, a western with a conscience from 1964, a bad time for westerns made in the lower 48. Brynner plays Jules Gaspard d'Estaing (Jewel, for short,) a silk-shirted top-notch gun for hire who's enlisted by a small southwestern town to shoot George Segal, a young man returning from the Civil War who, much to town owner and chief psychopath Pat Hingle's horror and disgust, fought for the Confederacy. Segal returns to town bereft of farm, stolen--- er, claimed and sold by Hingle while he was gone - and sweetheart Janice Rule, a New England lass who married a one-armed piano player out of pity. After Segal tries to take back his farm, rather forcefully and impulsively, Hingle's hatred for all things southern boils over and he hires one of the best guns in the lawless west.
At some point in the movie Brynner's character observes that this cowed frontier town is filled with hens (Civil War widows) and capons (injured vets of that war.) It can be ruled by anyone with enough moxie to take it over, and hence we're given the reason why Hingle's character is named Brewster - well, it rhymes with rooster, anyway, and his penchant for quoting and paraphrasing passages from the Bible is Hollywood's shorthand way of telling us he's either a fraud or criminally demented. In any event, the slave system Segal may (underline and italicize the word `may') have been fighting to protect and defend is clumsily contrasted with the Hingle-led town's treatment of women and resident Mexicans. Neither can vote in town councils, the Mexicans can't buy ammunition to kill game to feed their families, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Which reminds me, Brynner ain't half-bad as the suave and conflicted gun slinger. It probably goes without saying that there was only one man, recently returned from the war, who treated the resident Mexicans with any respect. That fact doesn't escape Brynner's attention, anyway, and it sets up the Big Conflict - does a hired gun let outside factors interfere with his contract to kill? INVITATION TO A GUNFIGHTER would have been a whole lot better if it hadn't tried so hard to prove the town's moral hypocrisy, if it hadn't spent so much time developing a sticky romantic quadrangle between Rule, Brynner, Segal, and the One-Armed Man, and especially if it hadn't loaded a simple story with so much `message.' Westerns, and action movies in general, work best when the connection between motivation and action is simple and direct. In ItaG that connection is hopelessly, and needlessly, tangled. Brynner has a lithe intensity that rises above the material and almost, but not quite, carries this movie along with him.
Rating:  - Jules Garpard d'Estaing - Bast@rd with a Heart
This is one of Yul Brynner's best portrayals on the cinematic screen. He plays Jules, a cold-blooded hired gun brought in to snuff out the town's last rebel. Brynner's portrayal of this bast@rd-with-a-heart is electric. He commands the screen even from the shadows. Watch for the hilarious scene where he's introduced to the town boss:
Brewster: Is your name Jewel?
d'Estaing: No.
d'Estaing: My name is [writes his name on a blackboard]
Brewster: Jewels...Gasperd...Die-es-ting
d'Estaing: Jules...soft j, silent s...Gaspard...silent d...d'Estaing...just a touch of dipthong.
Rating: - A Deep and Very Dark Western with a Message
Yul Brynner is a powerful and dynamic actor. He had donned the cowboy hat before in the 'Magnificent Seven' but quite arguably Jules was his greatest role ever.
In the film Brynner plays a mysterious gun fighter hired to kill a rebel who's property was sold in the war. The man demands answers but is shot. Forced to leave he refuses and returns to his farm where a gun is drawn upon him and he has to defend himself. In killing the man he has a bounty placed upon his head and a gunman is hired. But this movie is more than just a simple Western. It is much, much, much more.
In the town the Mexicans are treated as inferiors. The rebel is the only man that treats them decently. And they beg Jules not to kill him. Jules refuses yet Jules has a dark secret of his own that is similar to the Mexicans. Jules is a Creole from Louisana and is half French and African. His father was a slave owner and his mother was a slave. Because of this he was treated as inferior. When his mother argued with his father she was sold away because she was property. So naturally Yules is a cold and very dark because of the hardship and injustices of his past. And in Brynner, the Mexicans, and the Rebel there are three groups that are being discriminated against. The town claims to be against slavery but yet it stands by every injustice outside of it. And we see the conflict that surmonts between Jules, the Rebel, and the Town. So the film shapes into a morality play of sorts like 'High Noon' where the protagonist must choose between right and wrong. Brynner's role is very much like Eastwood's 'Man with No Name'. He is sort of an anti-hero or perhaps a divided one who has to make deep, difficult desicions. Does he do his job or does he do what is right? The film has romance, intensity, and passion and it all plays out well. The film is really a fine example of how great the past generation was in filmmaking. This film makes the viewer think, feel, and rationalize. The characters are very human and that is what I appreciate. Brynner's role is very realistic and intersting as he is more than just a hired cowpoke: he is a deep, complex, and intense. This film is truly a work of art and should be a part of any Western fans collection.
Rating: - Yul Brynner is Magnificent
If you liked Yul Brynner in "The Magnificent Seven" you will love him in this movie. Brynner is cool as they come. This is a great western and should be on DVD.
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